A New Addiction
by Kashi-Cookie-Monster
Summary: A/U High school fic. YukiXZero. Warnings for Mature content including drug use. DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
1. Day 1

**A/N - Hi there! Thank you for clicking on my story - very nice of you. This is my first multi-chapter Vampire Knight fanfiction, so some of my characters may be OOC in the first few chapters, but if you tell me what's wrong I might go back and fix it - at least the first chapter should be rewritten at some point. Enjoy!**

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx**

_'Thoughts'_

**Chapter One**

"Welcome back from the holidays, as you can see we have a new boy this year and I trust that you will all make him feel very welcome!" Headmaster Cross smiled happily at the excited class, but oddly enough not Yuki.

'_Dear me, she must be late again!' _Despite living only a couple of blocks away in the hostel that Headmaster Cross ran, she always managed to turn up late. _'Damn and I so wanted to introduce her to Zero.' _

As if on cue, the door opened again and Zero stepped aside to allow the entrance of a short, slender girl with brunette locks and startling chocolate eyes that fluttered closed as she let out a yawn, rubbing her fists over them.

"Yuki, you're late again!" The headmaster reprimanded, his whingey tone taking away any of the threat that the telling off may once have contained. "I wanted to introduce you to Zero Kiriyu. He's going to be with us, so you're the ideal candidate to help him find his way around campus.

'_Isn't he a little old to be in my year?' _Yuki thought as he looked him over. He was a hell of a lot taller than her, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was too old to be here. It was the facial features and his build that gave him away – he was starting to lose the lanky build that belonged to guys her age, instead made up of lean muscle. Yuki pasted on her brightest smile, her eyes crinkling up as she fully faced the headmaster. "Sure!" She spoke out enthusiastically, before internally punching herself as she realised _just how_ enthusiastic she sounded. "I mean I don't see why not."

Yuki turned back to the room, seeing all of the seats filled except for a small table in the back left corner. "Looks like that's us, ok Zero?"

"Riiigght… Yuki was it?"

"Yep!" Yuki turned and grinned again, startling and blushing at how close Zero was to her, his chest almost brushing her back as her pace slowed.

"Ah!" Yuki's eyes widened comically as something hard hit against her calf muscles, toppling her backwards, before squeezing shut again as she waited for the inevitable impact.

It didn't come. Instead, a soft cold hand wrapped around hers, another landing gently on her waist as it stopped her fall and coaxed her back into a standing position.

"You need to watch where you're going!" Yuki's eyelids lifted for her gaze to meet harsh eyes of coal, ringed deeply with a purple red. He was glaring, his face full of unwarranted anger.

"Well there's no need for that, I only tripped!" Yuki glared back and turned to face whoever had tripped her, fully prepared to shout at him or her, only to find that it was only an it.

She had fallen over a chair leg. A damn chair leg.

"Hey, you need to keep your chair tucked in!" Yuki screamed at the chair's owner and began preaching about Health and Safety, much to the poor boy's embarrassment. Luckily for him, Yuki was dragged off by her new-found friend and thrown into her seat.

"Hey, get off me!"

Zero sighed. "You have such a temper, you-"

"You don't know me!"

"That kid couldn't squeeze his chair in. Just look at him... he's eating right now."

"Well then, maybe he should go on a diet!"

"Yes, Yuki, maybe he should."

"He's the reason there is never enough cake in the cafeteria!"

"You're the reason that there is a high pitched squeak in my ear."

"How dare you! You're so rude!"

"Says the girl screaming loudly about some poor obese kid."

"Poor obese kid? His lunch could feed the whole of China!"

Zero lifted his head fully, his obsidian orbs burning holes into hers. "Once you've started something, it's not so damn easy to stop. It's _damn difficult_ and people like you don't make it any easier! You think you know best, about something that you have likely never experienced. Don't preach understanding unless you do."

Yuki's eyes widened further as their teacher called for silence and she tuned everything out. Zero was right; she had no right to say the things that she had. She needed to apologize to him, and she thought it out until the bell went, only for her silver haired neighbour to leave the second the bell went, not waiting for her. She couldn't blame him.

"Zero, wait up!" Yuki called after him, but of course he did not.

They had multiple other classes together after that, sat together as they both arrived late. Yuki was surprised in the first lesson (not because he was late - he no longer had a guide) but at how civil he was, accepting her awkward apology without a response, merely turning his head down furiously to glare at the desk. He wasn't particularly rude to her, unless brushing her off occasionally could be considered as such. He spoke well enough to her about the work and the school, but the moment anything remotely even broached his personal life he clammed up.

She fizzled out as the day went by and her attempts became less and less welcome. He visibly darkened as the day went by, his eyes becoming duller and duller and his body set on edge, all twitchy. Was he waiting for someone to attack him? He kept looking at the clock, was he so desperate to leave, did he have anything that he would rather be doing?

He'd vanished completely during the break and lunch, and he did so when the end of school bell went too. She hadn't seen him at all until today, did he even know where the hostel was?

"Zero!" She called out, finding herself yet again chasing the silver haired boy. But once she'd pushed through the others leaving the room, Zero Kiryu was already gone off of the face of the earth, and Yuki turned to go home without him.

Most of the kids travelled by bus or car, or walked in the opposite direction from her; into town, so Yuki ambled down at an unhurried pace. At most only a pet cat or occasional neighbour would fear her walking into them as she walked home, her mind deep in thought.

Today those thoughts were of Zero, so much so that she barely noticed when the most familiar person in the world to her waved from where he waited, leant against the tall building that was her home.

Now Zero's, too.

"Yuki you are slightly later than usual. Is there something on your mind?"

"Kaname!" Yuki grinned, meeting his gaze with her own shyly, even after she had known him for so long. The school, in a way, had started to create a rift between them, and she missed the easy friendship and comfort that they had once shared. "Are you here to see the headmaster?"

"Do I need an excuse to come and see you now, Yuki?"

"No, I-uh just..." Yuki smiled again and fidgeted with the back of her hair awkwardly. "Are you going to be staying?"

"Do you want me to?"

"I... of course!"

He smiled gently down at her, his deep melodious voice rumbling quietly. "Then I shall stay."

"Good! You can stay next door to me again Kaname!"

"Can't I stay with you? We could have a sleepover." Yuki giggled and blushed as she brushed off his words. He was more like a brother to her than anything else, and even if he weren't he wouldn't want someone like her. She'd seen the people that he hung around with at school, generally the same age as him and much more mature than her. Even if she had been the right age, she was nothing close to them with their stunning athletic bodies, large breasts and high confidence. Those factors never changed, and Yuki herself agonised for hours over her flat chest and rounded stomach in front of her full length mirror. Her arms and legs too, were scrawny rather than lightly toned. That didn't stop his teasing from bringing pink to her cheeks however.

They raced each other up the stairs, waving at Chiru as they passed the reception desk. Headmaster Cross owned and mostly ran the Hostel, but employed Chiru to keep things ship shaped while he worked at the school. He still employed her during the holidays though, because she needed the cash and it gave him time to work individually with each of the kids. She was a nice lady with kids of her own, three of them too young too stay at home on their own so she brought them in with her; often all four of the during holidays and on Saturdays but only two on school days; one usually went straight home and the other was dropped off by a friend (sometimes Yuki) from the school across the road from her own. Although different circumstances had brought them there, everyone soon settled in to behave as a family, accepting Chiru and her offspring as part of it even though they didn't live there and were a family of their own. Headmaster Cross had offered them rooms every now and again but he always knew that his offer would be refused; Chiru owned a house that had been passed down to her by her mother and so didn't have to pay any rent or mortgage, she only had to pay the bills and have enough left to care for her family of five. Her husband had passed away while she had been pregnant with her youngest (the reason for which remained unknown to Yuki) and unfortunately had also left her with a large amount of debt. Once that was paid off, she would hardly need so many hours and would be able to either cut back or save up for a 'rainy day'. Chiru was obsessed with saving, she wanted to leave something for her kids. Working outside school herself, Yuki couldn't blame her.

They never locked the rooms that didn't belong to anyone as Headmaster Cross liked to give the idea that they were 'always open' to anyone, regardless of if they could afford it. If they stayed long enough, the headmaster and Chiru would try and get them back on their feet and into their own accommodation, particularly if they were past the age of 25, at the person's request if they were younger than that. Yuki laughed as she dodged past Kaname to open a door on the second floor, the one that Kaname would be staying in, only to meet a sudden shock, her mind and body freezing at the beyond unexpected sight.

Zero Kiriyu had taken the room next to hers and was unpacking when he whipped his head up to glare at their intrusion, his eyes slightly darker, the rings slightly deeper. He crashed the box he was going through out of the way, sliding it against his sofa; the long term residents here had a lounge sectioned off from their bedroom and a slightly larger bathroom. The box clinked as it landed – delicate objects colliding rather than glass or plate breaking.

"What do you want?" Zero asked them, pleading, his voice so desperate and needful that Yuki's insides melted and her eyes prepared to water. She wanted to reach out to him, but his previous behaviour had indicated that maybe she shouldn't.

Thankfully, Kaname recovered first, apologising sincerely. "I'm very sorry that we have barged in like this. We had not been informed of a new tenant here, and I hope that you can forgive our intrusion."

Zero only glared further, his face becoming cold as he looked Kaname up and down. "Polite words for a doped chav."

"I have no idea what on Earth you are talking about."

"Aw, c'mon. I can see it from here."

The two boys stared at each other unblinkingly, tensing as they eyed each other up. As a high school student, it wasn't a difficult leap for Yuki to realise that without intervention this was going to be a fight.

"That's ok," Yuki smiled and reached out a hand to Kaname, gently pulling at his arm. "We can find you another room Kaname."

He stared at her for a moment, his eyes running over her face before he nodded. "You're right, Yuki. We can just find another." He allowed himself to be pulled to the door and the turned back to Zero. "There would be little sense in us fighting. I would like us to start as friends."

And then he left closing the door quietly behind him without waiting for a reply.

"Kaname, come on." Yuki called behind her as she carried on down the hall, this time knocking before entering the room on the other side of his own. "Look, this one's free. You can stay here."

"I suppose it is just as close to you as the other."

Yuki blushed. "I-uh... Kaname?"

"Yes, Yuki?"

"What did you mean back then, when you were talking to Zero?"

Kaname smiled, and reached out a hand to her head, stroking her brunette locks. "Nothing overtly important."

Yuki frowned; they looked like they were seriously about to go at it! "Still, I would like to know."

"It's no concern to you, Yuki. I would prefer that you find out on your own." And with that he entered his room, pulling the door behind him and leaving Yuki alone with her thoughts.

**Day One End**

**R&R  
Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxx  
**


	2. Day 6

**A/N – In case I forgot to mention, Yuki is 16 and Zero is 18 in this fic. Also, Yuki is not related to Kaname in this, because that would ruin my plot something drastic.**

**Chapter 2**

Quiet footsteps and a shadow sliding across the polished wood table announced to Yuki that she had a customer, and so she slid a bookmark into the crisp pages of the book that she brought with her specifically for slow mornings such as this. The shop opened early, so as to accommodate for the tired mess of businessmen getting their early caffeine fix, but that always left several hours of near silence save for the occasional jogger before the main rush flooded in.

So she was pretty shocked when she looked up and saw the world's laziest person glaring down at her.

"Can you tell me where I might find Ando-sama?"

"What are you doing up?" Yuki's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she stared at him, unable to keep the words from spilling out. "You're never up this early!"

Zero raised one delicate silver eyebrow, an action that was somehow too gentle for his dark, daunting eyes. "How would you know?"

"You've skipped breakfast and been late for school every day this week."

"And that's enough time for you to observe my sleeping habits?"

"I, well, yes!" Yuki glared at him. "I have no other assumption to go on, when you've been late 100% of the time so far."

"Around 87% now."

"Huh…" Yuki tried to wrap her head around the rather quick maths on Zero's part. Damnit, she didn't even know if he was right. "Well, how may I help you?" Yuki smiled, plastering on her 'talking to customers' face that made Zero's face soften slightly until it very almost resembled a small smile.

"If you'd been listening, you'd have heard me ask for Ando-sama."

"Is she your girlfriend? Is that why you're on time?"

"Why? Jealous?"

"Wha-no! But she is working right now! You shouldn't be asking her to slack on with you! Then I'll have to deal with this place all by myself!"

"Well then, it's a good thing I'm not here to ask her to slack off."

"Then why _are_ you here so early?"

"I think that turning up late might show a bad work ethic."

"You thought right." Both Yuki and Zero turned to see a tall, curvy brunette woman leaning against the doorframe that led into the office.

"Ando-sama!" Yuki gasped out. How much of their conversation had she heard?

"Zero Kiryu, am I correct?"

"Yes, miss."

"Hmm," A small smirk curved her lips at the word 'miss'. "I think you'll do fine here. So long as you can be polite to customers." She pointed to her office. "I'll go over your hours and duties with you quickly, and then you can get straight to work. And Yuki," She called as she vanished back inside the small room. "I prefer the slightly less moody type."

888

Yuki sighed as she poured what had to be thirtieth pineapple cooler in a row. Whenever a group of children came in, it only took one of them to actually think of something, and then the rest of them would copy. She plastered on the 'talking to children' out of her range of work smiles and bent down to hand it to the blonde little girl. "Here you go sweetheart."

"Thank you miss!"

"You're very welcome." Yuki passed one more smile to the parents and then skulked back round to stand with Zero behind the till.

"Don't any of them think for themselves?" He asked quietly, drumming his nails on the counter.

"They're children, Zero. Of course they don't."

"So you always copied someone else as a child?"

Yuki's breath left her in one large gasp as she thought. She didn't know. Would she have copied off someone else? Or had she already a mind of her own? She remembered copying Kaname for a while, but that was just because she didn't know any better, and she trusted him to find something that she's like. Had she been so dependant before? She wasn't at all dependant now. But had she been then?

"Yuki?"

"Ah, I guess so, yes!" Yuki ruffled her hair up awkwardly as she turned towards the door to watch for another customer.

Did it bother her that she didn't know? Yes, it did. But there was no sense in lingering over it.

"What did you and Kaname mean when you were talking on Monday?"

"About what?" Zero frowned at her sudden change of topic. "We don't talk much."

"Kaname doesn't do drugs. Why did you call him a 'doped chav'." Yuki frowned at him. "And he's not a chav!" She barked out furiously.

Zero rolled his eyes. "Call him what you like. It doesn't matter to me either way."

"Of course it doesn't! You seem to hate him!"

"I don't know him well enough to hate him."

Another thought struck her. "Why are you staying at the Youth Hostel?"

Zero shot her a deep look, analysing her closely before turning away with a shake of his head. "That's none of your concern."

"Maybe not, but I'm nosy enough to want to know."

Zero sighed. "Of course you are."

"So you gonna tell me?"

"No."

"Well that's just rude! People who come to stay at the Hostel obviously need help, and you need to tell me what's wrong before I can help you! You have insulted Kaname is front of me, after already arguing with him for no reason! You avoided me when I tried to show you around during school this week and you won't answer any of my questions! You are just so _rude_!"

"Are you always this forceful in your attack?"

"Why are you even in my class anyway? You're older than me, and you're clearly not stupid!"

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You didn't answer my question!"

"Because you didn't ask me politely, and you seem to forget that I have no obligation whatsoever to answer you."

"I would like to know."

"So that you can help me?"

"Yes!"

"Then you should let me help you."

"I don't need any help!"

"Yeah, how about with _Kaname_?"

Yuki head snapped up sharply to glare at him coldly. "What do you mean?"

"I think that what I mean is obvious, or at the very least will be soon."

Yuki opened her mouth to reply but the words vanished as a new line of customers came up to the till.

Yeah, this was going to be a _long_ shift.

888

Kaien Cross smiled happily as he bumbled down the hall to collect his guests for the evening. "Yuki, Zero!" he called happily, knocking on each of their doors. "I know you're both in there! Neither of you were here for dinner, so I thought we could eat together and get to know each other better."

"-Thank you but I've already eaten."

"-I'm tired and I would like to have an early night."

Kaien frowned as the excuses came in. Obviously there was a problem between Yuki and Zero already, after not even a week together. He hadn't seen them together in school either, other than when they were in lessons. It looked like this could become a major problem if he didn't interfere any time soon. He'd have to sort this out as quickly as possible.

"I will not take no for an answer. I would like some company while I eat, and I would like you two to join me. And since I have been in the kitchen since the two of you got back Zero, I highly doubt that you have eaten anything yet. Yuki, you had about 13 hours sleep last night. If you are that tired I shall have to call a doctor."

For the sake of argument Yuki wanted to point out that she wasn't necessarily asleep for the entire time, but the look on his face said that he was not going to back down in any way. She might as well just give in. That would be easiest for everyone.

"Ok." She murmured, a hint of annoyance slicing through her as Zero nodded his consent too.

"Good." Cross smiled brightly at them, a bright smile that was enough to set anyone off edge. "Let's go."

It felt awkward sat across from Zero like this, is the dark room. Kaien had always preferred fire or small delicate lights to massive, inelegant lights that too brightly filled the entire room. It felt calmer to him, and less professional than the lights that he worked under every day. His home was also a workplace, and he liked to be able to differentiate between the two.

One of the many reasons why Yuki was quite honestly confused to be here, sat across from a new inhabitant. The group ate as exactly that in the evenings – a group, using it as an opportunity to offer advice and companionship in a friendly, social atmosphere. It was important to anyone who needed help to realise that they didn't have to be in some stuffy office to discuss and deal with their problems. The moment it seized to be quite as frightening it was easier to get a handle of.

This was something else entirely.

Kaien watched the two closely, waiting for any kind of verbal interaction to take place but it wasn't looking very likely. He sighed. They were both such stubborn characters.

He only hoped that he was correct in his assumption that they were far too old to throw food.

**A/N –Well, that was chapter two. Thank you very much to k.a.a-inu for reviewing and TamashiiWolf for subscribing. I think I wrote Kiriyu instead of Kiryu in the first chapter…:( My apologies.**

**Thank you for reading,**

**Kashi-Cookie-Monster**

**xxxx**


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